Tumor suppressor genes and their associated proteins have been identified in the scientific literature. However, to date, no identified tumor suppressors have been utilized in the treatment of cancer.
It would appear that certain tumor suppressor proteins could be utilized in the treatment of cancer, either as a direct therapy or as an adjuvant therapy along with standard treatment regimens, where the standard therapies would encompass radiation, chemotherapy or more targeted therapies, such as tumor associated antigen-antibody therapy.
Ideally, secreted tumor suppressors proteins or factors could be utilized in cancer treatment regimens as these secreted proteins would be amenable to various drug delivery mechanisms. However, very few identified tumor suppressor genes exist as secreted factors in the human circulatory system.
If novel, secreted tumor suppressor proteins were discovered, these proteins could be useful in the development of various cancer treatment regimens. Thus, the discovery and application of such tumor suppressor proteins could advance current medical treatment for cancers that have the capacity to be acted upon, i.e., suppressed, by secreted tumor suppressor proteins.